"Girl Meets Bear And TJ Meets Divorce"  

TJ knew that his parents never really got along. Before they got married, they were an on-and-off kind of couple until they finally decided to try to be together for the rest of their lives. When TJ was born his parents started fighting much more and easily got agitated with each other.

TJ was little when he hoped they might make up and be the loving parents he knew they were deep down. But that hope was crushed when he was quick to realize that was never going to happen. He got use to all of the yelling, slamming of doors, and constant arguments. Sometimes he would even hear objects break. His parents didn't usually bring him into a fight they have. That only happens if he's there at the wrong time or if one of his parents bring him up in a fight and he gets dragged into it.

If his mom or dad is the only one at home with him, then it's good for the most part. It's just goes downhill when they're together. But, recently he was starting to get sick of all of it. All of this fighting just made him want to scream. Once his father laid a hand on him the day he left with his class to the Mount Ski Lodge that was the last straw.

It was the weekend now and his parents are both home. He managed to get the courage to confront them about how he felt about this. He just wishes they would make up, and he wishes they would be the parents he need. This conversation ended up with a fight which surprised him a little bit. He thought they would at least consider his feelings and not fight for a minute to hear him out. He regretted not talking to only one of them instead of them together.

"Hi, TJ."

TJ looks up from his place on the ground, seeing Lucas looking at him with raised eyebrows. TJ quickly wiped his red brimmed eyes with the long sleeve of the flannel he wore. Lucas looks down the hallway of the Matthews' apartment building and looks back at where TJ sat against the wall beside the Matthews' apartment door.

Lucas chuckles lightly. "Did you forget how to knock?"

"Well, um, in my defense, I did knock once, but no one heard me..." TJ replied, looking at him with a smile that didn't meet his eyes. Lucas frowns when he notices it looks like TJ has been crying. He leaves the door open slightly as he takes a seat beside TJ.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asks him, his voice laced with concern. "And don't say nothing because it's obvious something is bothering you."

TJ lets out a heavy sigh, turning his attention to his sneakers. "I confronted my parents about how I felt about their stupid fighting, and the talk ended up with a fight." He shakes his head, trying his best to fight the tears that were threatening to fall. "And now they're getting a divorce."

Lucas' gaze softens, and his lips curve downward. "TJ, I'm sorry. No one should have to go through that."

"Yeah..." TJ nods, his shoulders slumping while resting his head back against the wall. "I always thought they might get a divorce, but I'm surprised they actually are getting one. They were calling to get papers ready for them to sign when I left."

"Are they letting you choose who to go with?" Lucas asked him.

TJ nods. "They are. But I don't think I wanna go with either of them...They're both not the greatest, but I think if they weren't around each other or me they would be a lot better."

Lucas stays silent for a few seconds, not really knowing what to say. He then remembered what he talked about with his parents and looks at TJ. "How would you feel about having a brother?"

TJ furrows his eyebrows, looking at him with confusion. "Why are you asking that?"

"Well, my parents have been wanting to adopt someone, but then I told them about your situation." Lucas started to explain. TJ looks at him with wide eyes, feeling a bit upset that he talked about what has been going on without his permission.

Lucas points at the Canadian boy beside him. "Before you get mad, you might wanna hear that my parents are more than willing to adopt you. They also talked with your parents a few weeks ago about it and your parents were a bit hesitant, but they agreed."

Lucas smiles. "If you're okay with it, my parents want to adopt you after the divorce of your parents are final."

A surprised expression forms on TJ's face. He was already feeling so many mix emotions. He couldn't believe that somebody actually wanted to adopt him. He was still upset that his parents didn't want any custody of him, but he had to admit it would be pretty cool to have a brother and parents that actually care for him.

"Wow...Um...Wow." TJ stammers after finding the courage to speak. His lips curve upwards as he looks at Lucas. "It would be great to have you as my brother, Lucas."

Lucas grins at hearing that. "Good. I'll let my parents know later tonight. They're gonna be so happy."

TJ smiles. "Yeah, I'm happy too. Thank you, Lucas."

"Of course." Lucas nods, standing up. "Now, come on. You can help us search for Riley's stuffed bear she lost."

TJ chuckles lightly, stands up, and follows Lucas inside the Matthews' apartment. His eyes grew wide when he saw how much of a mess the Matthews' apartment is. "Wow, this place is a mess."

"Yeah," Lucas agrees, shaking his head as he let out a small laugh. "You don't wanna see the rest of it." He pats TJ on the shoulder and then walks back to Riley's room to continue searching for the bear with her.

"TJ!" TJ turns around, smiling when he sees Maya sitting on the floor in front of the door. Maya smiles at him. "You're here."

"Yeah, here I am." TJ shrugs his shoulders, taking a glance around the messy apartment before looking back at her. "So, what did I miss?"

"Well," Maya dramatically said, looking over at him. "We were gonna get tacos because-"

"It's taco day." TJ interrupted her, nodding his head, looking at her with a small smile.

Maya nods, pointing at him. "Exactly. Taco day is never the same without tacos. But then Riley's stupid bear had to go missing." She pouts, gesturing to the apartment. "So that's why it looks like a tornado came through this apartment."

TJ chuckles a bit at how upset she seemed to be by this and quickly steps to the side when the door suddenly opens, which shoves Maya to the side. TJ raised his eyebrows, watching as Josh Matthews walked in with a bag of laundry.

"Hey, family!" Josh greets, walking over to where Cory and Topanga stood in the living room. "Don't try to pressure me into staying for dinner. I'm just here to do my laundry. That's right."

"That's a thing now. I do my laundry here. Did you know?" Josh then dramatically gasps. "'Cause now you know."

Cory smiles, outstretching his arms. "My brother!"

"My laundry!" Josh smiled, handing his older brother his laundry.

"His laundry!" Cory gives the laundry to Topanga, who stands still, causing the bag to fall to the floor.

TJ chuckles lightly when Cory lets out a small scream at seeing the threatening look Topanga gave him. TJ turns to Maya, who is still on the floor, and reaches a hand to her. Maya smiled at him and took his hand, letting him help her up.

"I'm sorry." Cory apologizes to his wife. "I lost my mind." Topanga nodded in agreement, watching as he nervously picked up the bag of laundry.

Cory continues to speak while he starts walking back to the hallway. "I will just take these to the creek, and I will wash them myself."

"What's everybody doing here?" Josh gestures to the apartment. "Who's here?"

"I think everyone's here." TJ replied. Josh looks back at him with a smile. "Hey, TJ. Nice to see you."

TJ nods, looking at him with a small smile. "You too."

"We're looking for Riley's lost teddy." Topanga answered Josh's other question, and Josh looked at her with a bit of surprise as he crossed arms. "Berry-the-Bear Bear? She had that thing forever."

Maya only let go of TJ's hand to close the door. After it was closed, she walked back over to TJ, sharing a smile with him as she held hands with him again. Josh looks over at his niece when he notices her and Lucas walk into the living room. "You lost it?"

"Yeah," Riley nods. "But I think I'm ready to call Barry officially lost and head out for tacos."

Maya smiles widely at hearing that. "No. Really? No."

"No. No giving up." Josh shook his head.

TJ smiles at Maya when she pouts, thinking she was cute. "Yes. Give up. Yes."

"No, it's important we find it." Josh said.

Riley looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Why?"

"Uncle Josh!" Auggie runs into the room and runs over to Josh. Josh smiles and hugs him. "Mr. Auggie."

"How's college?" Auggie asked him when they pulled away from the hug. TJ looks over at the hallway when he heard more footsteps, noticing that Farkle and Zay walked into the room.

"Oh, dude, you kidding? Dude, you kidding?" Josh said, sounding less enthusiastic the more he talked. Farkle and Zay went over to sit at the table on the bench next to Lucas and Riley. "Dude, the people, the parties, you kidding, dude?"

Topanga looks at her younger brother-in-law with concern. "You want to stay here tonight?"

"Just tonight? How about forever?" Josh sighed, taking a seat on the couch.

"Has it been a rough adjustment?" Farkle asked him while Maya and TJ sat on the couch in the living room beside where Josh sat.

"It was a rough adjustment for us in high school." Maya chimed.

"What about college?" Zay questioned.

Josh shakes his head. "You think you're ready. It's hard. I wasn't ready. My roommate and I, we don't get along at all, and I don't think it's my fault. I think it's his fault."

Josh looks at each of them, continuing to rant. "He says 'schnoop-aloop' at the end of everything. Who does that? Now ask me a question."

TJ raises his eyebrows at him. "Okay...What time is it?"

Josh stands up, wiggling his body a bit as he answers the question. "11:15. Schoop-aloop.

TJ chuckles a bit, and Josh points at the others, crossing his arms. "Ask me who I am."

"Who are you?" Farkle asked him.

"I'm Schnoop-aloop's roommate." Josh replies. "You know what people say when they see me? They say, 'Hey, that's Schnoop-aloop's roommate.'"

He points at himself as he angrily says, "My name is Josh. How did this happen to me? I'll tell you how it happened. I grew up. You know what I know? High school is your last stop before you grow up."

He looks at his niece. "So you don't give up on that teddy bear. You hang on tight. You find that bear."

Maya frowns, dramatically leaning her head on TJ's shoulder since she knew that meant they weren't getting any tacos. TJ chuckled lightly at her and squeezed her hand gently, earning a smile from Maya.

"You understand what's important, Riley?" Josh asked Riley.

"Yeah, I think I do." Riley responds. She looks at Lucas. "Lucas?"

Lucas smiles, gesturing to the hallway. "After you."

Smiling, Riley gets up and heads to the hallway with Lucas following him. Everyone else dispersed and continued the search for Riley's bear. 

****

A few hours went by, but none of them had any luck finding Riley's bear and Tacopalooza was officially over.

"I'm a little surprised we can't find it." TJ comments, walking over to where Maya sat on the arm of a chair in the living room. He glances around the apartment before looking back at her. "I mean, we looked everywhere it could possibly be."

"I'm not surprised you didn't find it." Maya shook her head.

TJ furrows his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because I have a strong feeling that it's supposed to be gone." Maya replied.

"So, I that Lucas was talking with you for a while earlier today. Is everything okay?" She asked him, looking at him with concern.

"Yeah," TJ nods. "Everything is okay now. My parents are getting a divorce, but I think I'm getting adopted by Lucas' parents."

Maya smiles, standing up to kiss his cheek, which causes him to blush a bit. "That's so great, TJ. I mean, not your parents getting a divorce, but you getting adopted. I'm sure you're gonna fit in just fine with his family."

"Thank you." TJ told her, intertwining his hand with hers.

Maya looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "What for?"

"For everything." TJ replied, leaning over to kiss her cheek. Now it was her time to blush. She giggles, staring at the floor with a shy smile on her face. "Awe, you're welcome."

"How are we gonna tell Riley?" Farkle questioned from his spot by the bay window.

"Hey," Cory speaks up. "Where is Riley?"

Topanga looks at him. "She and Lucas were looking together."

A look of worry forms on Cory's face. "Riley!"

Riley and Lucas walk into the room a few seconds later. "Yes?" Riley looked at her dad with raised eyebrows.

"Where have you guys been?" Zay asks them. "We haven't seen you in a half an hour."

"An hour." Maya corrected him.

Zay looks at her, shaking his head. "A half an hour."

Maya glares at him. "I don't get it!"

Lucas smiles. "Riley found what we needed to find."

Riley nods, looking at everyone with a smile. "Yeah, Lucas and I found out we were looking in the wrong place, so then we looked in the right place."

"So, does that mean you found the bear?" TJ questioned.

Riley shakes her head. "No. You find the bear?"

"No." Farkle replied to her, looking at her with an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"Remember when Auggie wanted to give up Mr. Googly and grow up?" Maya inquired, walking over to sit on the couch where Auggie sat on the arm of the couch. Auggie smiles. "But then I didn't. I wasn't ready."

Maya smiles back at him. "Yeah. Good for you." She looks at everyone. "But at some point I think we are ready."

"How do we know when that is, Maya?" Auggie asked her.

"I think something inside us tells us." Maya replies. "I think it actually comes to tell us." She gets up and walks over to Riley.

"Riles..." She stands in front of the brunette-haired girl as she speaks. "I don't want to let you down, but I...Think your bear is gone."

Riley takes Maya's hand in hers, looking at her with a smile. "Yeah. I don't want to let you down either." Riley lets go of her hand, turning to Lucas who goes into the hallway and then comes back out holding two bags of tacos. Riley gestures to the bags of tacos. "So, we got you this!"

Lucas grins as he mimics the sound of a Mexican festival horn while shaking the bags. TJ chuckles lightly at the action and then let out a small laugh when Cory and Maya scream the word 'tacos' out of excitement.

TJ heads into the kitchen area along with the others, getting his own taco, and then goes to sit on the floor in front of where the balcony is next to Lucas, Farkle, and Zay while the girls sit on the couch.

"This taco was so worth the wait." TJ moaned in delight after he took a bite of the taco he held.

"I totally agree." Zay agreed with him while he still had food in his mouth. Farkle looks at him with raised eyebrows. "Weren't you the one that wanted pancakes?"

"Yes." Zay points at him. "But that doesn't mean I don't like tacos."

"So, Riley," TJ looks over at Auggie when he speaks up. "Are we gonna keep looking for the bear?"

TJ continues to eat the rest of his taco while he looks at Riley. Riley looks at Auggie with a small smile. "He knew it was time to go."

"He knew that you didn't need him anymore." Lucas set his empty taco wrapper down and walked over to where the girls sat.

"So," Maya said. "He waited 'til you were asleep and kissed your eyelashes goodbye."

Zay finished his taco, setting the wrapping down as he got up and then walked over to stand beside Lucas. "Grabbed his tiny travel hat and his tiny suitcase."

TJ sets down the wrapping his taco came in, and walked over to stand beside Zay. "And, of course, he couldn't leave without thanking for your years together." Riley looked at him with a smile and TJ smiles back at her.

"And he told me to tell you he forgave you for eating one of his cookies." Zay told Riley which caused her to chuckle.

"Then he hopped out the bay window and got on the G train to Beartown." Farkle said.

Nodding, Maya grins. "I think that's exactly what happened."

Riley smiles at everyone. "Thank you, everybody."

Lucas nods, looking at her with a small smile. "That's what we're here for."

Riley gets up and goes over to where Auggie sat in the kitchen. "Hey, Auggie?"

"Yeah?" Auggie looked at her while Riley sits down at the bench. TJ walks over and takes a seat on the bench beside Lucas as Farkle sat on one of the chairs at the table.

"It's a great story that you chewed his face off because you wanted to hang out with me and Maya." Riley tells him. "Never lose that, okay?"

"Okay." Auggie responds. Maya picks him up and sits down, putting Auggie on her lap. Auggie looks at her. "Can we hang out?"

Maya looks at him. "No. Get out of here." Auggie purses his lips, and she does the same thing, and then they share a smile. Josh speaks up.

"You know what? I think it's time I got out of here."

Topanga looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "What happened to forever?" Josh looks at her, and she just smiles. "I'll get your laundry." Josh smiles at her, and Topanga goes to the hallway when Cory looks at Josh.

"Josh, you can stay here as long as you like." Cory reassured him.

"I know." Josh nodded, walking over to his brother and patting his shoulder. "Thank you," He looks at Riley and her friends. "But looking at you guys, I just get this feeling there's some good friends to be made back at my dorm."

"With Schnoop-aloop?" Auggie asked him.

TJ chuckles a bit, glancing over at Riley while she speaks. "Maybe Josh just needs to get to know him better."

"Maybe I just need to let them get to know me a little bit better." Josh nodded.

"Hey, TJ," Zay said, looking at TJ.

TJ turns around, looking at the dark-haired boy with raised eyebrows. "Zay?"

Zay dramatically gestures with a nod of his head for TJ to come over to him. TJ chuckles lightly and walks over to him, dramatically doing the same thing Zay did once he stood beside him. "What's up, buddy?"

"Just want to let you know I don't think you're that bad of a guy after all." Zay told him.

"Thank you, Zay." TJ smiled.

Smiling, Zay nods. "And I'm happy that you and Maya are finally together and will most likely fly to the moon and all that."

TJ chuckles lightly, looking over to his right when he felt a hand intertwine with his. His smile widened at seeing Maya looking at him with a smile.

"Thank you, again, Zay. And you'll never be third-wheeling with any of us." TJ reassured him.

Zay furrows his eyebrows. "How'd you know I was gonna say something like that?"

TJ shrugs his shoulders. "I just had a feeling you might."

"Well, then, thank you." Zay smiles. "'Cause I don't wanna be stuck third-wheeling while watching them stare at each other in their stupid, stupid eyes." Zay gestured to Riley and Lucas, who were smiling at each other.

"Yeah, that'd be boring and awkward." Maya nods. "But we'll try our best to not make you feel like a third wheel."

****

After Josh left, Maya, TJ, and Zay went beside Riley and Lucas on the bench. "Want to go to the movies?" Lucas asked Riley.

"No." Cory replied.

Riley looks at Lucas with a smile. "Yes."

Cory groans, glaring at the two, which causes TJ to chuckle. TJ looks at Maya, wrapping his arm around her. "You wanna go to the movies?"

"Of course." Maya grinned.

Maya and TJ looked at Zay with a smile while TJ asked him, "You wanna see a movie with us?"

Zay smiles. "Sure."

The five of them look back at Auggie when he asks Farkle, "You want to go to the movies?"

The five of them watch with amusement while Farkle looks at Auggie with confusion. "Uh, what?"

A/N yay i finally updated this fic! & also yay 'cause tj is gonna get adopted into a family who will care about him. him & lucas are gonna be such good brothers